Paul david



i (No Model.)

P. DAVID.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING PURE COPPER IN SINGLE OPERATIONS.

No. 595,766. I Patented Dec. 21,1897.

l a H) MUN k N 18%! n A/ N 1) m QQ JNITED STATES ATENT I FFICE.

IAUL DAVID, OF EGUILLES, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING PURE COPPER lN SINGLE OPERATIONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,766, dated December 21, 1897.

Application filed April 10, 1897. Serial No. 631,501. (No model.) Patented in France August 26,1896,No. 259,214.

2" 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PAUL DAVID, of Eguilles par Sorgues, (Vaucluse,) France, have invented a Process of and Apparatus for Obtaining Pure Copper in a Single Operation, (for which a patent has been obtained in France for fifteen years, dated August 26, 1896, No. 259,214,) of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a process of and apparatus for obtaining pure copper in a single operation.

In the manufacture of copper as at present practiced when oxid of copper is added to the white matte treated in a reverberatory furnace or when in the converter atmospheric air is blown into a molten mixture of sulfids of copper, tin, antimony, &c., the combustion of the sulfur is effected and the copper is reduced to the metallic state. In the course of these operations the foreign metals which form part of the mixture and of which the sulfids have a lower heat of formation than sulfid of copper are the first to be reduced, and being of greater density than the white matte fall to the bottom of the bath. The sulfid of copper gradually becomes decomposed in its turn, and the reduced copper on reaching the bottom of the bath mixes with the foreign metals already deposited, so that at the termination of the operation when all the copper is reduced the crude copper run off contains impurities more or less in amount according as the matte from which it was obtained was more or less impure. When this copper is refined, a portion of the impurities is eliminated, but the tin, arsenic, antimony, nickel, cobalt, &c., are never entirely removed, and the copper obtained remains unsuitable for many uses. The manufacture of pure copper from white matte thus necessitates at least two operations, the first the production of a pure matte and an impure metal containing the foreign metals, and the second the reduction of the pure matte for theextraction of pure copper.

The process of my invention has for its object to obtain pure copper in a single operation; and it consists in separating the foreign metals from the rest of the mass while the bath remains in fusion and without arresting the operation of reduction. In other words,

a selection of the metals reduced at the beginning and end of the operation is effected,

cal, complete, and economical-result, it is preferred to employ an apparatus which I term a selector, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1- represents a front elevation, Fig. 2 a vertical axial section, and Fig. 3 a side elevation, of the selector working as a converter. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the apparatus working as a reverberatory furnace.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The characteristic features of the apparatus are, first, the combination of two communicating vessels, from the larger of which a part of the contents may be discharged into the smaller one without possibility of return into the larger vessel; second, when working as a converter the twyers raised above the bottom to facilitate the separation of the impurities as they become reduced; third, when working as a reverberatory furnace the possibility of running off pure copper, which cannot be done in ordinary reverberatory furnaces; fourth, the practical possibility of .using the selector either as a converter or reverberatory furnace by merely altering the position of the apparatus and turning on a gas-cock, both methods of working being possible in the course of a single operation; fifth, the general arrangement of the apparatus, mounted to rotate on an inclined axis and supported on ball-bearings.

The apparatus consists, essentially,of two vessels at and b, of unequal capacities, communicatin g under the conditions hereinafter explained. The larger vessel a is for effecting the reduction of the matte and the vessel 1) for collecting the metallic particles which are the first to be reduced, so as to separate them from the matte not yet reduced in order to effect the selection desired. The two vessels are provided with a suitable lining, which may be acid or basic. The larger vesselais provided at the lower partwith a number of vertical twyers 0, opening into the matte.

slightly above the bottom of the vessel, as shown, so that the air injected shall not mix the metallic particles first injected with the rest of the matte,'this being a special feature of the apparatus. The twyercasing is so connected as to permit of the apparatus being completely rotated upon its axis 00 a: whether the apparatus be stationary or portable, the blast of compressed air being admitted to the twyer-casing through the hollow trunnion (l. Opposite to the twyers is the mouth 6 for charging and also for the escape of the gaseous products for working and for running off. A channel f at one side of the vessel a connects it with the smaller vessel 1), which is provided with two orificesan upper one, g, for cleaning out the connecting-channel, and a lower one, h, for running off the metals which have been separated from the matte. The trunnion is mounted in a bearing 7c, carried by a frame 11, and the apparatus rests by a circumferential roller path I upon ball-rollers 'm and receives rotary motion by means of wormgear at o, operated by a winch handle 13. Other gear may, however, be used which will allow of complete rotation, so that the small vessel 1) may assume relatively to vessel a all positions necessitated by the different phases of the operation, which I will now describe.

The complex matte to be treated, composed of sulfid of copper, tin, nickel, &c., which has been brought to the condition of white matte either in the same or another apparatus being contained at a molten red heat, is blown with compressed air for a certain number of minutes, according to the nature and amount of impurities contained in the matte, after which the apparatus is revolved upon its axis until the small vessel Z) is brought into the lowest position, whereupon the metallic portions first reduced, which are of greater density than the matte, are collected at the bottom of the smaller vessel, which is of such form that when the apparatus is turned back to its former position the metal contained in the small vessel cannot return to the large vessel a. The small vessel should be heated to keep the contained metal fused until run off. The apparatus having been again turned mouth upward, the blast is renewed, and the two orifices g h are unclosed by removing the bridge 4, by which they are kept plugged, and the collected metal is tapped olf at the lower orifice. The tapping-hole is then again closed, and the blowing of the matte, which has been thus deprived of its impurities, is continued until it is entirely reduced to metallic copper, which is run off by rotating the apparatus in the reverse direction, so as to turn the mouth 6 downward.

When the apparatus is used as a reverberatory furnace, its mouth is connected with a chimney u, as shown in Fig. 4c. The apparatus is heated by means of gasfor example, introduced in admixture with air through the twyers c, 3 being the inlet for the gas and zfthat for the air. The apparatus, which is rotated by gear, as before described, is held in an inclined position while the oxid of copper is added, so as to bring the small vessel 19 to the upper side of the vessel a, of which the lower side forms the hearth, as shown.

The essential feature of my process, whatever maybe the details of arrangement of the apparatus employed, is the effecting in one operationthat is to say, without allowing the matte to cool-the treatment and selection of cupreous matters for extracting copper freed from impurities, which could heretofore only be eliminated by several operations.

I claim 1. The herein-described process of treating copper mattes containing foreign metals, which consists in heating the same in a reverberatory furnace or a converter in the presence of an air-blast to a high temperature, to

thereby decompose the said matte, separating the foreign metals from the matte by gravity, and in thereupon separating the said foreign metals at the bottom of the matte from the remainder of the matte without allowing the matte to cool, whereby pure copper will be obtained in a single operation.

2. The herein-described process of producing pure copper in a single operation, which consists in heating a matte containing copper and foreign metals to a state of fluidity in a reverberatory furnace or converter in the presence of an air-blast, separating the heavy foreign metals from the matte by gravity, and thereupon turning the furnace or converter into a position where the heavy foreign metals may be drawn off without disturbing the pure copper, meantime keeping the matte in a state of fluidity.

3. For the treatment of copper matte, areducing vessel provided with twyers and the said vessel being mounted to rotate on an axis and combined with a lateral chamber or pocket provided with a tapping-hole and cominunicating, with the reducing vessel by a channel leading into the upper part of the pocket so that by rotating the vessel about its axis the fluid contents may run into the pocket but cannot return to the reducing vessel when the latter is turned back for continuing the reducing operation as described.

4. For the treatment of copper matte, a reducing vessel provided with twyers rising therein above the level of the bottom of the.

reducing vessel, the said vessel being mounted to rotate on an inclined axis and combined with a lateral chamber or pocket provided with a tapping-hole and communicating with the reducing vessel by a channel leading into the upper part of the pocket so that by rotatiiig the vessel about its axis the fluid contents may run into the pocket but cannot return to the reducing vessel when the latter is turned back for continuing the reducing operation as described.

The foregoing specification of my process of and apparatus for obtaining pure copper in a single operation signed by me this 22d day of March, 1897.

PAUL DAVID. WVitnesses:

C AUDE M. THOMAS, WILL H. CHAMBERS. 

